1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrical connection structure for electrically connecting a stationary member to a movable member relative to the stationary member. In particular, the present invention relates to an electrical connection structure applied to a sliding door in an automobile for electrically connecting various electrical components mounted on the sliding door to a body of the automobile.
2. Description of the Related Art
An example of related art electrical connection structures for electrically connecting a sliding door to a body in an automobile is disclosed in Patent Document 1 (JP 2003-335188A, paragraphs 0017-0021, FIGS. 1-4). This electrical connection structure comprises a power-supply harness protector configured to house a wire harness therein that is always bent upward with a leaf spring and led out through a slit-like opening.
The power-supply harness protector includes a guide formed in a curved or tilted shape in a longitudinal cross section along the opening, and a harness inducer formed at an end of the guide having a gradually curved or tilted shape in height. A harness lead-out outlet is formed adjacent to the harness inducer as following the opening in the structure.
In the related art electrical connection structure, the power-supply harness protector as described above is arranged on either the sliding door or the body, while a harness-fixing portion is arranged on the other, such that the outlet is located at the same height as the harness-fixing portion. This allows the wire harness to be horizontally led out through the outlet to the harness-fixing portion at a position where the sliding door is either fully closed or fully open. This structure is effective to prevent the wire harness from damaging.
In the related art electrical connection structure described above, the wire harness is always bent upward with the leaf spring within the power-supply harness protector. Therefore, the power-supply harness protector has a larger outside shape, which presses spacing for arranging electrical components in the sliding door and limits the flexibility of laying out electrical components.
In the related art electrical connection structure described above, the harness-fixing portion is attached to the body, but remains swingable in the front-rear direction of the body, for example, about a fixed axis of a bracket serving as a fulcrum. Therefore, realizing this structure requires an increased number of components and increases various costs such as production and assembly costs.
In the related art electrical connection structure described above, the wire harness is simply led out through the opening and the outlet of the power-supply harness protector toward the harness-fixing portion. Therefore, this structure allows foreign matter to enter the inside of the power-supply harness protector through the opening and the outlet, wherein the foreign matter may damage the wire harness and affect the movement of the wire harness within the harness protector.
In the related art electrical connection structure described above, the power-supply harness protector includes a protector body and a protector cover composed of a synthetic resin. Therefore, environmental variations such as variations in temperature and humidity can bend the protector itself and, if an extreme dimensional error arises, the effects may possibly prevent movement of a resilient member as the protector which actuates the wire harness.
The present invention has been made in consideration of such the problems and has an object to provide an electrical connection structure which may improve the flexibility of layout, reduce costs, support movement of the wire harness, reduce the effects of environmental variations, and achieve smooth movement.